Governor Cooper Vetoes Elections, Technical Corrections Bills

“North Carolinians demand that elections should be conducted in an honest, fair, and accurate manner. The responsibility of investigators and prosecutors to find and eliminate wrongdoing in our elections is essential to maintaining integrity in our most sacred democratic process. This bill makes it harder to root out corruption in elections and campaign finance. While it does finally return the Board of Elections to a constitutional structure, Part IV shields politicians and others who violate campaign finance laws. These new provisions operate to obscure the truth rather than shine a light on it. The rushed introduction and passage of this bill allowed lawmakers little time to weigh the downsides of Part IV and, upon reflection, study, and hearing from election law experts, the downside can be devastating to the cause of fighting election fraud.

“Ending stormwater and water quality protections threaten the safety of our communities. Additionally, municipal charter schools set a dangerous precedent that could lead to taxpayer funded re-segregation.